The finance ministers of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain are due to meet in Berlin this week to unveil political compromises on the plan to turn the bloc into an investment powerhouse.
Keravnos, whose country is not part of the breakout group, joins other smaller EU countries in expressing skepticism about the exclusive group, which they fear could bulldoze others’ opinions in pursuit of its own goals.
The finance minister said the E6 governments are proponents of market integration, so they should be clear that their initiative does not contradict it.
“We need to unify the banking system, the capital markets, and so on. The six countries —which are the driving forces of the European economy — support market integration. Otherwise, it would be a step backward.”
Keravnos was speaking on the sidelines of the eurozone finance ministers’ meeting in Cyprus over the weekend, which aimed to advance discussions on topics including the digital euro and whether EU countries can find flexibility in fiscal rules to address the energy crisis.
Last week, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wrote to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, calling for greater budgetary flexibility to help manage energy costs in the wake of the war in Iran.